Special Feature
First-of-kind
contacts launch in
Canada
The new ACUVUE OASYS with Transitions
Light Intelligent Technology contact lenses
are launching this month in Canada.
By Denis Langlois
The two-week reusable contacts,
named by TIME as one of the
best inventions of 2018, were
developed through a strategic
partnership between Johnson &
Johnson Vision and Transitions
Optical.
The contacts function by quickly
and seamlessly adjusting from
clear to dark in response to
changing light conditions,
balancing the amount of light
entering the eye including
filtering blue light, and blocking
harmful ultraviolet rays.
They begin to darken as soon
as they're exposed to UV or
high-energy visible light, with
Transitions Light Intelligent
Technology enabling the lenses
to become dark in about
45 seconds and fade back
from dark to clear within 90
seconds when going from
outdoors to indoors.
24 Optical Prism | April 2019
At Transitions Academy 2019,
Optical Prism got an opportunity
to speak with Zohra Fadli, director
sphere, light management and
lens care platform, research
and development at Johnson &
Johnson Vision, and Catherine
Rauscher, global director, business
innovation for Transitions Optical,
about the new contact lenses and
the partnership between the two
companies.
Q: Excitement has been building
about this new product. Can you
give us a glimpse into why you're
so excited about it?
Zohra: We are very excited about
this product because it’s the
first-of-its-kind contact lens with
light adaptive technology. We are
excited because it addresses a
significant, unmet need. Because
at the end of the day, we develop
technologies not just to develop
them, but to serve the patient and
to serve the eye doctors.
With the data we have and the
results from the studies and all the
performance data we have, it has
all been phenomenal. So we’re true
believers. We know this product is
going to be very transformational.
Catherine: It is clear there are so
many moments where we need help
managing light in our lives.
We believe the benefits of light
management technology are
limitless.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about
the research and development
that went into these new
contacts.
Z: The technology basically started
with the question - what’s the
unmet need? And we know today
that there is significant, unmet
need in vision compromise due
to changing, challenging and
bothersome light. We know that
bothersome light is very dynamic,